What You Decide
by Ashton09
Summary: For all Beca's hesitations about starting this relationship, after two years of being with her soulmates, she'd thought they were safe from her fears. They're happily in love and nothing can touch them, right?


I know I said I wasn't going to work on other prompts because I was afraid I'd get pulled off of Chloe's Weekend and find it hard to get back on track, but I left my notebook at home and couldn't remember where I'd left off, so I jumped to a quick prompt fill and this happened.

* * *

"God, Aubrey, were you even going to tell us?"

Beca can't help flinching at the anger in Chloe's voice; she's never heard her girlfriend sound so angry. She's never heard her get this upset. Hell, she's never seen her girlfriends fight, period. As far as she knows the only time they've fought was at the Bella's rehearsal before she'd walked in, and her presence had managed to cut that fight short before it had a chance to really get started.

"What do you think this is, Chloe?" Aubrey snaps back, patience finally gone after almost half an hour of trying to explain herself. "I _told_ you nothing is set in stone yet, it's _just_ a possible opportunity I would like to take."

"And then what? Where does that leave us?" Chloe asks with a wave to encompass Beca, and the brunette shrinks back from being drawn into this. After two years with the other women she knows better than to take sides, even if she hasn't seen them fight like this before. And seeing the way her girlfriends are now yelling at each other, not taking sides seems like the safest bet.

"Beca's going to be starting her senior year in a few months, and we _all_ agreed we'd hold off on decisions like this until she's graduated and we can all make them together on equal ground. Then you come home and tell us you want to run off for weeks at a time to do this? What kind of equal decision is that?" As Chloe goes off, Beca realizes that not taking sides might be harder than she thinks if the redhead keeps pulling her into the fight.

"I'm not just deciding to do this Chloe, I've already told you that several times. I know we agreed to wait, but this opportunity will be a one shot thing, so I want to at least talk about it with you two! You know I've wanted to do something like this for years, Chloe. So why is it such a surprise that when the chance comes I want to take it? That doesn't mean I've already made up my mind to do it. Why is this such a big deal to you, to the point you won't even talk about it? Beca doesn't seem to have a problem with the idea."

"Okay no, you both need to quit pulling me into this fight" Beca says before Chloe can answer, struggling to stand her ground when two angry looks are directed her way. "No, don't look at me like that; if you two want to fight that's your thing. But I love you both, and I'm not taking sides in a fight, so leave me out of this until we can talk about it like soulmates instead of arguing about it like children." She hopes the shock of her statement will be enough to shock her girlfriends into reasonableness, but she can tell it backfired when their faces harden and they start sniping about who is alienating her now.

She's not sure how she's supposed to help now, not when each of her girlfriends is visibly angry and only getting angrier as tempers let harsh words fly. It's somehow even worse than the fight she'd had with Aubrey after Semis, probably because it's so unexpected and shows no signs of slowing. Even when she tries to lighten the mood by joking that if they argue any longer she'll be the one cooking dinner Aubrey just snaps something about ordering in, barely sparing the time to shoot an apologetic glance her way when Beca winces at the tone.

They carry on so long that it's not even really an argument anymore; just a fight at this point, words and insults being thrown that have nothing to do with the issue at hand. And finally Beca has had enough.

So after taking a moment to gather her courage, she physically walks between her girlfriends and holds her hands up to quiet them. She's already been through one soulmate separation, she's not about to let the same thing happen to their relationship.

"If you two say one more unkind thing to each other, I swear I will spend the night at the Bella's house" she starts with a stern look at each of them so she can see how serious she is. "I have enough memories of soulmates fighting; I'm not going to sit here so you two can add to them. Now I know we all love each other, so quit with the fighting and actually talk about it, because this is not worth losing you two over." This time she thinks she's gotten through to them, can see the lines of anger smoothing from their faces as they calm down.

They manage to start a reasonable discussion after that as Aubrey discusses the actual logistics that would be involved, with Beca listening intently and Chloe visibly trying to wrap her mind around the idea. It's obvious she still doesn't like the thought of Aubrey leaving the city to run a retreat in the middle of the woods for who knows how long, but at least they're not yelling at each other anymore.

"And it's not really weeks at a time, the dates are fairly well spaced out and there's only one extended session this season. And even with that one I wouldn't be gone the whole month."

"A whole month?!" Chloe interrupts, and Beca's heart sinks as she realizes they're going to start fighting again. "We're supposed to be okay with you disappearing for a whole month? How are you even okay with that?"

"I'm not okay with it, but it's not like I'll be able to pick and choose which sessions I cover when I'm in charge of running the place, Chloe" Aubrey says with a frustrated sigh.

"But you're willing to choose this retreat over us?" Chloe scoffs, and suddenly Beca has had enough.

"You two call me when you're done fighting" she says as she stands. "And only then, not just because you're upset I'm not here, because you two obviously have something to work out here, and you're not letting me help. So you two deal with it, and let me know what you decide about the three of us. Because I'm not going to go through what I did watching my parents fight. I love both of you, and I love being with you, but I'm not watching you fight while I can't do anything. So call me when you're done with the fighting."

It hurts to walk away and pack an overnight bag, but she means what she'd said. Her girlfriends try to stop her as she leaves, but she's insistent that they work it out first. "Finish your fight, and then call me tomorrow. You know as well as I do that you aren't done, and I'm not going to sit around waiting for things to flare up again. Take the night and talk." And with that, she walks out the door, pausing to take a deep breath as she reaches the end of the hallway, before heading downstairs and out to the Bella house.

Even just in the short time the trip to the house takes her she gets three voicemails and fourteen texts, and it takes all her resolve to keep from turning around and going back, only sending an 'arrived safely' text before shutting her phone off.

Thankfully most of the Bellas are on summer break; only Stacie, Flo, and Amy are sticking around for the summer term. Normally she'd be worried about Amy making comments she doesn't need, but Stacie steps in as soon as Beca shows up, knowing something is wrong before she can actually say anything.

And once Beca explains, she's breaking out the emergency ice cream stash from the basement, ignoring Beca's protest that the situation isn't serious enough to risk upsetting the ghost. "Beca, your girls are fighting badly enough that you're spending the night away from them You haven't done that in months, they even scheduled time off and came to New York for Nationals. It's serious, and that means ice cream" she insists, and Beca finds she really can't argue with that logic, or with the ice cream the blonde places in front of her.

Beca finds herself explaining more of the situation to Stacie as they slowly make their way through the carton, and some of the realizations the conversation brings up surprise her. She'd been so focused on the fact that Chloe and Aubrey were fighting that she hadn't really taken the time to figure out how she feels about the idea. And Stacie has some good insights that help Beca work through her emotions, even if half of her advice involves 'screwing some sense into them' and seems less than helpful.

Still, it's enough to let her try to sleep, though the narrow bed she has at the Bella house, more as a symbol than anything else, seems cold and unwelcoming as she tosses and turns late into the night. It feels like she's barely gotten to sleep when Stacie is waking her, a disgruntled look on her face as she holds her cell phone out.

"Your girls got tired of waiting for you to turn your phone back on and called me" she complains with a yawn as Beca takes the phone. "Plug it back in when you're done, I'm going back to bed" she adds with a groan as she turns to leave. Her grumbling is explained when Beca looks at the phone before holding her ear and sees it's barely past seven in the morning.

"Hello?" she asks through a yawn, not expecting the volume of the exclamations her single word brings, and reels back from the phone with a grimace. "Dudes, relax a little there, my eardrum and I just woke up" she says, trying to keep any snap out of her voice lack of sleep might put there, not wanting to snap at them after leaving because they were fighting.

"Sorry, Becs" she hears Chloe say, and can tell they have her on speakerphone. "But you weren't answering your phone, and we got worried."

"I wasn't answering because I was asleep and haven't had a chance to turn my phone on yet. You know I never get up before eight willingly, and it's only barely seven. Patience, guys" Beca says with another yawn, swinging around so she's sitting on the edge of the bed and less likely to fall back into it and go back to sleep in the middle of the conversation.

"You don't get to walk out all night and then get mad when we call early in the morning" she hears Aubrey say, and the reproach is clear in her voice even though it sounds quieter than Chloe's, as if the blonde is farther away.

"If you two called to start the fight back up, I'm going to need a lot more sleep. Like years of sleep" Beca says, aiming for levity to cover the unease the reproach brings up.

"We're not starting a fight, don't worry. We never want to fight again, and we never want you to leave us again, even overnight" Chloe says firmly, and Beca can hear Aubrey agreeing in the background. "We know it was our fault, and we understand why you left, but god Beca, we missed you so much. We don't want you to be away from us."

"Well I don't like being away from you two either" Beca admits with only a trace of reluctance, an emotional avoidance holdover she's still working on getting rid of. "And even if you did wake me up at an absolutely unholy hour, now that I'm up and you two are being civil again I'll head back home so we can talk."

It seems like a shorter trip home than it had to the Bella house, but Beca is still impatient to be home and even though the distance is passing faster than it had the night before it's not passing quickly enough for her. She'd hated leaving her girlfriends on a bitter note, and just wants to curl up with them on the couch and talk about what had happened, and how they're going to get past it.

She eventually makes it home and opens the door without announcing her presence, hoping to have a chance to drop her bag before her soulmates can pull her into a hug. She should have realized that was a vain hope, as soon as they hear her keys in the lock Chloe and Aubrey are both rushing to her side, barely giving her a chance to breathe before nearly tackling her back into the hallway.

"Guys, I love you too, but the neighbors are going to start talking again if you keep this up, can we go inside?" Beca finally asks, glimpsing movement at the end of the hallway out of the corner of her eye. And apparently her soulmates remember the awkwardness that was that trip around the building, because with slight flushes they let her go and head inside, Aubrey grabbing her bag before Beca can argue.

They settle on the couch in what's coming to be their default positions for deep conversations, Aubrey and Beca at the ends angled slightly towards each other, and Chloe laying between them, head in Aubrey's lap and feet in Beca's, and the brunette has to smile at seeing them so comfortable with each other after the harsh words of the night before.

"So what did you two decide?" Beca asks after a long minute as they settle into each other, trying not to sound nervous even though she knows they'll be able to tell as her fingers tap out random beats on Chloe's legs.

"What else could we have decided, Becs? We need each other, all three off us together, and that's not going to change. The fight was ridiculous, and when you walked out, we realized just how ridiculous it was." Chloe says instantly, leaning her head up a little to make sure Beca can see the sincerity in her eyes.

"Well, we realized it after yelling at each other about everything for another thirty minutes after you let us know you'd gotten to the house safely" Aubrey corrects, meeting Chloe's incredulous look with one of her own. "What, were you not going to tell her that?"

"Of course I was going to tell her that" Chloe insists. "Just not right away?"

"You're still a little ridiculous" Aubrey says, but Beca can see the smile on the blonde's face, and there's no trace of animosity in her voice. And Beca can tell they're having a moment, but as it stretches on, she really wants to know what they'd managed to decide while she was gone. Because yeah she still stands by her decision to give them distance to work out the fight, but she also kind of regrets not being there for the serious conversation that had obviously followed.

"Okay, so you were both ridiculous a little longer, got that point. And we're not breaking up, which you know, I'm also very glad to hear. But what else did you decide?" Beca asks, breaking the silence when it stretches on long enough that she's starting to feel left out.

"We didn't decide anything" Aubrey says with a startled look, eyes wide as she meets Beca's gaze. "We wouldn't decide anything without you here. Chloe was right, this is a decision that has to involve all of us, and I didn't mean to make it sound like I'd already made up my mind and just wanted to convince you guys to go along with it." And even though that really doesn't settle Beca's curiosity, it does reassure her that they aren't pushing her out at all, that even if they'd forgotten about her while they were arguing, they still care about her and want her to feel comfortable in the relationship.

"We spent most of the time after you stopped texting and we stopped fighting talking about _why_ we both reacted like we had" Chloe adds, and Beca wonders if the look on her face has given her away yet again. Chloe has always been able to read her like a book, not that Beca usually minds. "And that was really it; we talked for maybe an hour before we tried to get some sleep."

And Beca can read them too, can tell by the way Chloe's smile isn't quite as bright as it normally is and the way Aubrey is holding herself just a little more rigidly than normal that they hadn't slept any better than she had, and part of her is glad. Not that they hadn't slept, but that they had missed her presence as much as she had missed theirs.

"So, what were the realizations?" Beca manages to ask, despite wishing she could insist they all take a nap before having any kind of emotional conversation. It's better to get this out of the way, and then they can all retreat to their bed for hours and take comfort in each other's presence.

"I let my enthusiasm for the idea blind me to how it would really affect you two" Aubrey says without preamble, reaching out with one hand to grab Beca's while her other runs through Chloe's hair. "I knew it would affect you, and knew it would be hard on all of us, but I didn't really stop to think about it like I should have. I just assumed that you would see how much I wanted it, and somehow be okay with the whole thing."

"And I was so worried about her being gone while things were changing for us that I overreacted" Chloe says as soon as Aubrey finishes, and Beca can't help nodding a little, even as the redhead narrows her eyes. "I mean, you're going in to your senior year at the end of the summer, and I know you want to get an internship to start building a resume, so you won't have a lot of free time between that, school, and the Bellas. And I was afraid that if Bree was off at a retreat somewhere, I'd be left behind and forgotten. There are times I wish I hadn't graduated, that I still had the Bellas in my life like you do, but you two have been there for me every time I feel like that, and I wouldn't change where we are for the world. But I don't know, I guess it felt like if Aubrey left, then I'd be on my own."

And yeah, Beca decides right then that holding off on the nap was the best plan, because there's no way she's letting Chloe go for at least an hour after the way the redhead's forehead creases and her voice wavers, and she can tell Aubrey feels the same way. And a nap is such a convenient excuse to hold her girlfriends, and a lot more comfortable than standing for long periods of time.

"You'll never be forgotten" Beca manages to say, feeling Aubrey squeeze her hand as the blonde nods in agreement. "But I can see why you'd worry. I was talking to Stacie last night, and she helped me realize how I was feeling about the idea, not just the fighting. Because this is a really great opportunity, but I know we'll miss you every second you're gone, if you decide to go."

"I know you would" Aubrey says softly, looking between Beca and Chloe. "And if either of you thinks it will be too hard on you, then I won't go. I'll wait for another opportunity. This can't be the only chance I'll have, and even if it is, you two are more important." And Beca can tell the blonde means it, but she's never wanted either of her soulmates to hold back from something they want because of her.

"Bree, we both know how much you want this, and I'm not going to stand between you and your dream" Beca says firmly, and Aubrey smiles at her for a long moment before responding.

"This isn't my dream" she says, and Beca knows something cheesy and cliché is going to follow, but she can't manage to roll her eyes at the thought. "It's something I want to do, something that I think I'll be good at. But loving you two, being with you, that's my dream now."

"Far cry from the woman who insisted soulmates had no place in her life until her career was firmly settled" Chloe teases, and Beca can't help but laugh at the look on Aubrey's face. She's heard the story often enough over the years, and often joins Chloe in teasing the blonde at how far outside the plan her life has gotten.

"Well the plan was never for 'soulmates' anyway" Aubrey throws back, looking into Beca's eyes as she does. "But any plan that doesn't include both of you is one I want no part of."

"You're killing me with the romantic crap today Bree" Beca pretends to complain, even though she keeps her eyes locked on her girlfriend's rather than rolling them.

"Oh shut up, by now we both know you love it when either of us is super romantic' Chloe laughs, and Beca shrugs noncommittally, refusing to give in that easily.

"So how often would you actually be gone?" Beca asks after another moment as they each think over what's been said so far. "I know you said there was only one extended session, but like, how long will you be out there?" She already knows that whatever the answer she'll be okay with Aubrey going, but it'll be easier to get her head around if she knows specifics. Easier to get used to the idea of the blonde being gone if she knows when and how long.

"Most of the sessions are an extended weekend, or a full business week. The schedule seems a bit random, but no matter what I'll be back at least once a week, and they've got coverage scheduled for any of the longer sessions so I can be back for two or three days at a time" Aubrey answers immediately, and Beca can see Chloe bite her lip at the thought of Aubrey being gone that much, even if she'll be back as often as she can.

"That's not really so bad" Chloe manages to say, and Beca can tell she's trying to mean it, even if the thought of Aubrey being away still upsets her. Beca can understand that, not having Aubrey around as their steadying force will be a lot to get used to.

"And it's just until the weather gets too cold, so I'll be done probably by late October, maybe early November if they have me stay for the camp breakdown" Aubrey adds, and somehow putting a time frame on it helps. Even if she'll be gone for most of five months, at least they have an end, not just a vague sense that she'll be back eventually.

They talk for a bit more about all of the various implications Aubrey being gone will have, both on their relationship and her current job, and the blonde is quick to reassure them that her boss understands and is willing to hold her position. And of course she constantly reassures them that even the distance can't hurt their relationship, and she'll call every night, and skype every chance she gets.

"And what if this ends up being something you really enjoy doing?" Chloe asks later, while they're all lying in bed pretending they're trying to nap and not just lying in each other's arms in the middle of the day. "I agree with what Beca said earlier, I'm happy that you might have this chance, and I want you to take it, but what if it's not a one season thing?" And Beca isn't sure, but she thinks maybe this is one of the things Chloe has worried about most, even if she hasn't been able to put it into words until now.

"Then we talk about it if they offer, and we figure it out. Because yes I want to do something like this with my life, but not if it means I'm away from you two all the time." Aubrey says instantly, and Beca can feel Chloe relax at the words. "If they offer, and we can't find a way to make it work, then I'll turn them down. And I'm only getting this chance, if they decide to offer this season, because their current director will be taking maternity leave for the rest of the season. So it's possible this season will be it, maybe the beginning of next season if she takes a longer leave. After that she should be back, and we can go from there."

"Maybe you can help me out with the Bellas this year, Chloe" Beca says as soon as the idea occurs to her. "I mean more than just helping me out with the setlist and texting Stacie all through her planning the choreography. You're a legit vocal coach now, and Bella alum, surely there's no rule against you helping us out. Then you won't have to worry about me being busy with Bella practice and you having nothing to do. Plus we can do all the fun stuff Aubrey would never let us get away with." She can feel Chloe smiling next to her even without looking, and just knows Aubrey is rolling her eyes at them both.

"Okay, but when you two come running so I can fix it, you'd better be prepared for the 'I told you so' I'll be sending your way" Aubrey says, trying to sound stern.

"Oh come one, what's the worst that could happen?" Beca scoffs, regretting it immediately when both of her girlfriends start listing things that have happened to her during Bella practices. "Okay, okay, I get the picture" she finally stops them as Chloe brings up the broken arm event, glad the room is dark enough that they can't see her blush. So maybe a group of ten college age women trapped together for long periods of time occasionally get into some tough situations, and maybe she's usually the one getting them there. Other than the one broken arm and a few split lips, it's not like anyone's actually gotten hurt.

"We'll be fine, don't worry" Chloe says when she finishes laughing, and Beca can't tell who she's trying to reassure.

"Promise?" Aubrey asks quietly, and Beca closes her mouth before she can ask the same thing.

"Promise" Chloe says firmly, and somehow it's enough for now.

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Prompt from Tumblr: so i'm in love with your triple treble soulmates au. like whole a lot. but for some reason i'd like to see an argument between two of them? (maybe chloe and beca because that seems the least likely? idk.) but just to see how it would affect the dynamic if a pretty serious argument took place. idk what it'd be about though. sorry, this is not a good prompt at all.

I hope it's close enough to what you were wanting, I couldn't come up with a way to keep Beca away any longer without it seeming out of place, and this hopefully sets up a possible continuation to drag at least parts of the second movie into this universe, assuming I keep motivated and can get through the road trip before I die of old age.

And because it keeps getting requested, I'm not going to nearly kill Aubrey or Beca so Chloe sees the fading colors again. I'm okay with a little angst like fights, injuries, home sick with the flu, etc but I'm not going to keep nearly killing or actually kill any of the three of them.


End file.
